Julie invited us to meet up with them in the morning to go kayaking, but we didn’t get moving quite fast enough to actually make the rendezvous. Autumn was going to work in the yard with her grandparents, but that fell through as well. Summer took the girls home instead, and then returned with some lunch to take on the float trip while I got things packed up and ready to go. My GoPro memory card was taking forever to back up old data, but I had plenty of other things to prepare anyway. Summer even had time to run out for gas and a couple flatbreads from Tropical Smoothie before we left.
I told Suzanne we were going out, so she waited outside a house in Dover and waved at us as we drove by. We got up to the creek about two hours late, and the place was packed. The water was high, and the COVID-19 outbreak had the camp grounds closed, but the park was waiving kayak parking fees. We got the kayaks in the water without too much trouble, and we were off to my usual start.
We made it through the first set of rapids without too much trouble, but the second or third long run of them got both of us. I really expected the high water to fix that for me, but I went up on one giant rock in particular that almost folded my kayak in half. Summer’s kayak got stuck on another rock and she floated by, and for some reason I felt the need to throw my paddle with my GoPro on it to her. I ultimately managed to free my boat, but then I tumbled over the rapids the rest of the way with nothing left of my shoes but the straps around my ankles. Summer didn’t catch my paddle, but I eventually caught up to my boat.
Summer was across water with her boat stuck on a rock upstream, but luckily an older gentleman was able to get it free for her. It was the same gentleman that ultimately returned my paddle after Summer and I cleaned up and got back in our boats. We assumed we were going to have to split her single paddle, but as I pushed ahead to scout for my own, a group of kids plucked it out of the water and got it back to me. It wasn’t until after pulling my GoPro out and recording a video though.
With that spill out of the way, we made our way down the creek without too much more trouble. We did eventually find Julie with her posse at the big sandbar, in what appeared to be a big frat party. Loud music blowing out poor speakers, and teenagers all whooping and hollering about alcohol wasn’t quite our scene, so we stayed just long enough to say hello and then shoved off.
It was a pretty good time with what was unfortunately probably my normal amount of mishaps and bruises. The water was probably higher than I had ever floated, so large parts of the trip were actually quite a bit better than some I’ve made in the past. At no point did we ever have to get out and drag our kayaks across a long, rocky high point. Summer had a blast, and a quick bite to eat along the bank kept us in relatively good shape.
Taking the boats out and packing back up was its usual pain, heightened by my complete lack of footwear. With just the two of us there, I drove Summer’s car back to Long Pool to trade for mine so we could load everything up. Another guy there helped me load Summer’s kayak, but I still had to pull up to flat ground to re-tie it. We headed back to town, completely forgetting to get Summer’s car until we got back to the highway.
After some extra time and extra miles, and a brief stop by the side of the road to pick up a slice of mouse pad I was using to keep the rope off of the hood of the car, we got everything back home. We didn’t die, and that was my usual win. Summer helped me clean off the boats and stowe them away, then went to get the girls while I cleaned up myself.
Autumn convinced Summer to let her stay with the grandparents, so it was just Summer and Eaddie here for the evening. They brought a family meal from Venezia’s, and they ate while watching The Voice. I needed the quiet and sat in my room, watching GoPro captures upload to Google Photos.
After we ate, Summer went to bed and I did some shoe shopping to score a deal. Then Eaddie and I watched one episode of Luke Cage since I didn’t get to spend any time with her today.
Josie likes Tucker! Josie likes Tucker!